Panthers dominate in conference triangular

RED OAK — Rivals faced off in Red Oak Thursday as the Panthers dominated their conference opener against the Tigers and the Atlantic Trojans, winning 67-9 and 45-25, respectively.

In their last matchup, Atlantic took the win against Creston 29-26 in their regional dual in February. The triangular opened with a rematch between the two Hawkeye 10 powerhouse teams.

Creston vs. Atlantic

Starting with the heavyweights, Creston junior Max Chapman took the mat against Atlantic sophomore Evan Sorenson. Chapman set the pace for the Panthers, pinning Sorenson in 69 seconds.

“I think Max is a contender at heavy weight,” Creston head coach Cody Downing said. “He just keeps getting better every time out. He’s kind of eliminated some of the mental mistakes he made as a freshman, sophomore. He’s buying into what we’re doing every night in practice and is becoming one of our leaders.”

Freshmen Owen Weis and Kylen Parsons are manning the 106 and 113-pound classes this year, but were unable to come away with a victory.

Weis faced Taye Jordan, ranked 11th in the state at 106. The match was close, 8-6 at the end of two, but with 51 seconds left in the match, Jordan got the pin on Weis. This tied the team score at 6.

Parsons also fell by pin to his 113-pound matchup Josh Hass, earning Atlantic their only lead of the night, 12-6.

The Panthers came back with a vengeance, finding wins in their next eight bouts.

It began with Atlantic switching their district champion 113-pound sophomore wrestler Aiden Smith to the 120-pound class to face Creston junior Christian Ahrens. Smith is ranked third in the state at 113 while Ahrens is ranked ninth at 120.

“I think they did that to kind of mess the lineup around,” Downing said. “But we believe a lot in Christian.”

That belief proved not to be misplaced as Ahrens began with a takedown in the first period, getting the early lead, 2-0. A reversal in the second grew his lead to 4-0. Though Smith responded with a reversal of his own, it wasn’t enough to take the win — earning Ahrens the 4-2 decision.

“That was a huge win for Christian,” Downing said. “That should really give him momentum going forward.”

The Panthers were missing junior Lincoln Keeler, a state qualifier two years ago and district qualifier last year, but freshman Broderick Phelps held his own at 126.

Phelps got out to an early lead on Atlantic freshman D’Artagnan Hansen with a reversal, and grew it with a 3-point near fall in the second period. With just over a minute left in the bout, Phelps got the pin on Hansen, taking the score to 15-12 and starting a streak of pins for the Panthers.

At 132, seniors Trey Chesnut and Domanic Mullins faced off in short match before Chesnut got the pin in just 28 seconds.

The Panthers were missing junior Austin Evans at 138 pounds after a 37-14 sophomore season and state qualification. Evans won a Hawkeye Ten championship at 138 pounds last year.

Junior Brandon Briley stepped up to the challenge, finding a pin against senior Jadyn Cox with 17 seconds left in the first period.

Senior Chris Aragon faced Atlantic senior Easton O’Brien, ranked 10th in the state at 145. “Chris is just such a neat story,” Downing said. “He hasn’t wrestled a ton of varsity matches, he’s been JV, but now every match it seems like he gets a little bit better. He’s definitely got all kinds of ability and determination.”

Aragon kept a fast pace, going up 4-2 on the state-qualifier after the first period. As time expired in the second, the ref called the pin against O’Brien.

“He’s been JV for three years, put a ton of time in and now he’s beating guys who are ranked in the state or have been in the state tournament,” Downing said. “I’m really excited to see where he can go by the end of the year. He’s been behind some really good wrestlers for three years and now he’s getting a chance.”

The pin put Creston ahead 33-12.

Junior Milo Staver finished the streak with his pin over sophomore Tyson O’Brien.

Creston junior Will Bolinger, ranked 10th in the state at 160, shut out senior Tanner O’Brien in a 5-0 decision.

The 170-pound match between senior Kaden Street, ranked ninth, and Jarrett Armstrong, went to overtime after each only scored 2 points through three periods. A takedown in overtime gave Street the 4-2 decision, growing Creston’s lead to 45-12.

Panther’s junior Jackson Kerr was pinned in the third by junior Cohen Bruce in their 182-pound bout, and junior Jagger Luther lost by a 9-1 major decision against state-ranked senior Brenden Casey.

Creston junior Quinten Fuller, state-ranked and previous state qualifier, couldn’t get the advantage in his matchup against senior Miles Mundorf. With a series of takedowns and near falls, Mundorf got out to a 7-2 lead after the first period. Fuller’s takedown and reversal in the third wasn’t enough to close the gap, losing by a 12-9 decision and finalizing the 45-25 victory.

“I told the kids before we left, if we get six minutes hard out of every wrestler, and I think we did, I’ll take it,” Downing said. “We’re missing two of our better wrestlers. It’s that next-man-in mentality. Give me six minutes hard and I’ll take the results.”

Creston vs. Red Oak

With five forfeits for Red Oak at 106, 113, 120, 132 and 145, Creston was awarded 30 points; however, Creston proved their skill against the Tigers, outscoring them 37-9 in matches wrestled.

Red Oak got their only pin of the dual in the 126 matchup of Phelps versus Tigers sophomore Kyler Sandholm.

Aragon wrestled well again in his 145-pound matchup against junior Joshua LeRette. Though LeRette scored the first points with a takedown, Aragon quickly got the escape followed by a takedown and two 3-point near falls. After a third period near fall, Aragon was awarded the 18-2 technical fall.

Three takedowns awarded Staver the 6-3 decision against sophomore Adam Baier.

The awaited matchup occurred at 160 pounds between number one ranked Tiger Dawson Bond and number 10 ranked Bolinger.

“Red Oak, obviously they’re missing a lot of people, but they think Bond is a state-champion type of contender,” Downing said. “If that’s the case, Will’s not far off.”

The pace was slow, only 2-0 after two periods in favor of Bond after a takedown. In the third, Bond got the reversal on Bolinger. While he was able to escape, a takedown by Bond sealed the 6-1 decision.

“I know he got beat, but we make some adjustments, we close the gap next time and see where we’re at,” Downing said.

Street shut out junior Baz Clear in a 15-0 technical fall at 170. The dual finished with pins by Kerr, Luther, Fuller and Chapman in 3:46, 3:31, 3:04 and 13 seconds, respectively.

Red Oak vs. Atlantic

Atlantic took a commanding 72-11 win against Red Oak to finish the triangular.

ATL Winners: Smith, Hass, Mullins, Cox, Easton O’Brien, Tyson O’Brien, Armstrong, Bruce, Casey, Mundorf, Nathan Keiser, Jordan

RO Winners: Sandholm and Bond

Creston will wrestle Saturday at the Riverside Invitational.